What it is: a stark collection of testimonies from victims and survivors of the influenza pandemic that killed more than 50 million people worldwide between 1918 and 1919.

Did you know? While reports of the disease were being censored by nations in the midst of WWI, neutral Spain publicized the affliction of its ruler, King Alfonso XIII, leading to the disease becoming known as the "Spanish flu" -- and the mistaken assumption that Spain was experiencing the largest outbreak.

What it's about: In this accessible, elegantly illustrated volume, classicist Mary Beard reexamines ancient art from viewers' (rather than artists') perspectives, exploring how bodies and the divine have been perceived throughout history.

What sets it apart: its joyful, accessible tone and its focus on non-Western, non-male-centric art.

Media buzz:How Do We Look is a companion to the BBC/PBS series Civilizations, for which Beard serves as a presenter.

What it's about: In this engrossing, vignette-laden history of America, Harvard historian and bestselling author Jill Lepore (The Secret History of Wonder Woman) explores the contradictions between the country's founding ideals and its historical and contemporary practices.

Want a taste? "To study the past is to unlock the prison of the present."

Don't miss: mini-biographies of lesser-known historical figures, many of them women and people of color.

What it's about: the work of controversial "spirit photographer" William Mumler, who was tried for fraud in a highly publicized 1869 case that featured showman P.T. Barnum as a witness for the prosecution.

Worth a thousand words: Mumler's most famous photograph, taken six years after Abraham Lincoln's assassination, purportedly shows Lincoln's ghost hovering behind his wife.

Why you might like it: This balanced account allows readers to draw their own conclusions about Mumler and his work.

What it is: a lively and dramatic account of small-town police officer Chuck Zukowski's 3,000-mile quest to prove that UFOs exist, sparked by unexplained livestock mutilations in his rural Colorado town.

Places visited: the usual UFO "hot spots" like Roswell and Area 51, but also underground military bases and sacred Native American sites.